Well, I got lucky!
Was driving by a Sam's a little while ago, decided to stop, run in, and, if they even had them priced a bit high, go ahead and get enough AA lithiums to run my trail cams thru the next 12 months. As I've learned "the hard way" too many times, a bird in the hand is worth many in the bush.
There was a battery display kinda close to the entrance, but it wasn't the one I'd normally seen near the store center. By golly, they had a good supply of AA lithiums, but there was no price on the display for them.
Before loading up my buggy, decided to quickly go see if that big center battery display was still there. It was!
And there were AA lithiums priced there at $27.99 for the 18-packs!
But not end of story.
Go to check out, and these 18-packs
were ringing up at $32.98 each
Called over a clerk, told her they were priced $27.99 at the battery display, she went and checked, said that was in the process of being changed, and they just hadn't exchanged the $27.99 sticker for $32.98 yet. So she would still give me the display price
Sorry to report I was likely the last person to buy them today at Sam's for $27.99. But the good news is Sam's (nationwide) still appears to have a decent supply available at $32.98 per 18.
My apologies for contributing to the upcoming shortage, and I truly hope it's not as bad as the toilet paper shortage a couple years ago.
But whatever you anticipate needing to get you past the upcoming deer season, might be wise to get them now asap.